LiAngelo Ball NBA Draft Odds Favor Being Skipped

Following a three-month stint in Lithuania that will likely be remembered more for media antics than action on the court, brothers LaMelo and LiAngelo Ball returned to the United States this week. That immediately was fueling speculation on what father LaVar Ball has in mind next for his baller boys.

While LiAngelo has declared for the upcoming 2018 NBA Draft, the 19-year-old faces an uphill battle in his bid to launch his NBA career when the first round gets underway on June 21 at Barclays Center, and is pegged as a -2000 bet to go undrafted on the LiAngelo Ball NBA Draft odds.

It has been a particularly rocky season for LiAngelo, who was expected to open the campaign as a reserve for the UCLA Bruins. However, LiAngelo’s collegiate basketball career came to a screeching halt after he and two freshman teammates were arrested by police in Hangzhou, China for allegedly stealing Louis Vuitton sunglasses from a boutique located near their hotel.

The Bruins had traveled to China to take on the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets in a regular-season opener in Shanghai. However, the contest was dramatically overshadowed by Ball’s arrest and the subsequent efforts by US president Donald Trump to secure his release.

A half-hearted public apology from LiAngelo and his teammates failed to prevent their indefinite suspension from the Bruins program, leading LaVar to pull his son out of UCLA and setting the stage for their much publicized junket to Lithuania.

Ball Brothers Source of Controversy in Lithuania

While the arrival of LaMelo and LiAngelo in Lithuania was initially met by constant media coverage and enthusiasm from local basketball fans, the Ball brothers failed to dominate on the hardwood, and become a source of ongoing controversy off the court.

The constant presence of camera crews documenting the brothers’ experience for the reality TV show, “Ball in the Family”, become an irritant to the boys’ Vytautus Prienu teammates, while LaVar proved incapable of avoiding conflict with the club’s coaching staff.

Despite those struggles, LiAngelo managed to exceed the expectations of many European basketball observers during his time in Lithuania, finishing second among Vytautus scorers with 12.9 points per game while averaging just 22.0 minutes per night. While those numbers may make LaVar’s middle child a candidate to continue his basketball career, it has not helped his stock among NBA scouts, with the odds on LiAngelo Ball being drafted next month pegged at a distant +750.

Generally considered to be the more athletically gifted of the two brothers, LaMelo’s experience in Lithuania did little to boost his image among basketball insiders.

LaMelo reportedly clashed regularly with Vytautus coach Virginijus Šeškus, who described him as a “chipmunk” who failed to take direction from coaching staff. That resulted in extremely limited playing time for the 16-year-old, who averaged a meagre 6.5 points per game in LKL league action.

While overseas antics have resulted in the unusual availability of a LiAngelo Ball NBA prop bet, oldest brother Lonzo Ball appeared to thrive during his family’s absence despite battling nagging injuries, leading the Los Angeles Lakers to victory in 13 of his final 20 appearances this season.